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Lana
Catherine Joy "C.J." Perry (born March 24, 1985) is an Americanprofessional wrestling manager, model, actress, dancer, and singer. Although born in Gainesville, Florida, Perry was raised in Riga, Latvia and speaks fluent Russian. She is currently signed with the professional wrestling promotion WWE under the ring name Lana, where she manages Rusev. WWE Managing Rusev (2013–2015) In June 2013, Perry revealed that she had been signed to WWE and was sent to their developmental branchWWE NXT. Perry debuted in NXT on the October 23, 2013 episode of NXT, under the ring name "Lana", scouting Alexander Rusev during his match against C.J. Parker. On the November 6 episode of NXT, Lana became Rusev's "social ambassador", using a Russian accent and developing a character who majored in Foreign Affairs and Business and Social Media Marketing in college. In December 2013, the duo of Rusev and Lana were compared to Ivan Drago and Ludmilla Drago, the antagonists of the 1985 film Rocky IV''On April 26, 2015, at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view, during Rusev's rematch for the United States Championship against Cena in a Russian Chain match, Lana garnered a positive reaction from the crowd, which led to Rusev banishing her from ringside.33 It happened again, on May 17, at Payback, when Cena defeated Rusev in an "I Quit" match after Lana quit on Rusev's behalf.34 The following night on ''Raw, Lana justified her actions by explaining that Rusev said he quits in Bulgarian, only for him to harshly dismiss her; later that night, Lana kissed Dolph Ziggler, turningher face and officially ending their association.3536 On the June 29 episode of Raw, Lana and Ziggler confirmed their storyline relationship, and Rusev allied with Summer Rae.37 Week later, Ziggler was injured by Rusev, who attacked Ziggler by hitting his throat,38 and WWE subsequently announced that Ziggler had suffered a bruised trachea in storyline.39 Ziggler returned on the August 17 episode of Raw, aiding Lana during a confrontation with Rusev and Rae.40 This altercation prompted a match between Ziggler and Rusev at SummerSlam, on August 23, which ended in a double count-out due to interference from Lana and Rae.41 Rae went on to "seduce" Ziggler in order to end his relationship with Lana,4243but the storyline ended quietly, after WWE announced that Lana had injured her wrist while training. Rusev and Lana later appeared at NXT Arrival, where Rusev attacked Xavier Woods and Tyler Breeze. While Rusev made his main roster debut at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view on January 26, 2014, Lana made her main roster debut on the January 31 episode of SmackDown, where she and Rusev in the following weeks appeared in a series of self-promotional videos and speeches. Rusev wrestled his first match on the main roster on the April 7 episode of Raw, squashing Zack Ryder. In early May, Lana began dedicating Rusev's matches to her "hero", President of Russia Vladimir Putin, as well as adopting an Anti-American, Russophilic gimmick. Lana made some controversial comments during an in-ring promo prior to Rusev's match against Jack Swagger at the Battleground pay-per-view event, blaming the United States for current world events and praising Putin. Although she did not directly mention it, some media outlets said Lana was making reference to the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which happened three days before Battleground, to help build heat for Rusev in his feud against Swagger. A representative of WWE later told TMZ that the segment was not specifically about the Malaysia Airlines crash, noting that the Rusev-Lana storyline "has been a part of WWE programming for more than three months. WWE apologizes to anyone who misunderstood last night's segment and was offended". Following the November 3 episode of Raw, Rusev defeated Sheamus in a WWE Network exclusive match to capture the United States Championship. At Fastlane on February 22, 2015, Lana set up a distraction which led to Rusev defeating John Cena. However, at WrestleMania 31, Rusev lost the championship to Cena after Rusev accidentally crashed into Lana, knocking her off the ring apron. Face Turn; Managing Dolph Ziggler (2015) On April 26, 2015, at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view, during Rusev's rematch for the United States Championship against Cena in a Russian Chain match, Lana garnered a positive reaction from the crowd, which led to Rusev banishing her from ringside. It happened again, on May 17, at Payback, when Cena defeated Rusev in an "I Quit" match after Lana quit on Rusev's behalf. The following night on Raw, Lana justified her actions by explaining that Rusev said he quits in Bulgarian, only for him to harshly dismiss her; later that night, Lana kissed Dolph Ziggler, turning her face and officially ending their association. On the June 29 episode of Raw, Lana and Ziggler confirmed their storyline relationship, and Rusev allied with Summer Rae. Week later, Ziggler was injured by Rusev, who attacked Ziggler by hitting his throat, and WWE subsequently announced that Ziggler had suffered a bruised trachea in storyline. Ziggler returned on the August 17 episode of Raw, aiding Lana during a confrontation with Rusev and Rae. This altercation prompted a match between Ziggler and Rusev at SummerSlam, on August 23, which ended in a double count-out due to interference from Lana and Rae. Rae went on to "seduce" Ziggler in order to end his relationship with Lana, but the storyline ended quietly, after WWE announced that Lana had injured her wrist while training. In-ring Roles (2015-2019) On October 11, TMZ reported that Lana had gotten engaged to Rusev, which Lana confirmed. Lana made her return, once again as a villainess, on the November 30 episode of Raw, during a Miz TV segment, where she and Rusev referenced their engagement. Before going on another hiatus from television for unknown reasons, Lana appeared on the January 25, 2016 episode of Raw, during a segment alongside The Rock. Lana returned on the February 29 episode of Raw, confronting Brie Bella during a backstage segment, arguing that Brie's fans only supported her out of pity for having a "bad husband", and later in the evening, Lana laughed evilly after Brie was defeated by Naomi. On the March 3 episode of Main Event, the evil Lana appeared during Brie's match to distract her, in a failed attempt. Lana continued with her attempts to distract and attack Brie during the March 7 episode of Raw and the March 11 episode of SmackDown, by executing Brie's finishing maneuver on her. On the March 14 episode of Raw, she once again distracted Brie during a tag team match against Team B.A.D. (Naomi and Tamina), causing her to lose, and aligned herself with Naomi and Tamina, following a backstage confrontation with Paige. On the March 22 episode of Main Event, she brought the returning Emma and Summer Rae to her guild, reconciling with Rae in the process. After a match between Emma and Paige on the March 28 episode of Raw, Lana and her allies Brie Bella,Natalya, Alicia Fox and Paige, before they were saved by Eva Marie. As a result, the two teams faced off in a10-woman tag team match on the WrestleMania 32 kick-off show, in what would be Lana's in-ring debut, which Lana's team would lose. On the April 25 episode of Raw, Lana returned to managing Rusev, who went on to capture the United States Championship. On July 19, Lana and Rusev were both drafted to the Raw brand. On the April 11, 2017, Lana was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up.46 As vignettes hyping her televised return aired, Lana resumed in-ring competition under her new gimmick at NXT live events that same month.474849 Lana made her return on the June 6 episode of SmackDown Live, unsuccessfully vying to compete in the impending women's Money in the Bank ladder match, while also igniting a feud with SmackDown Women's Champion Naomi.5051 On June 18, Lana was defeated by Naomi in her first televised singles match at Money in the Bank after a distraction by Carmella.52 She went on to compete against Naomi two more times on the June 27 and July 4 episodes of SmackDown Live, where she was defeated both times in quick fashion.5354 On July 23 at Battleground, Lana competed in a five-way elimination match to determine the number one contender for the SmackDown Women's Championship, where she was eliminated by Becky Lynch.55 At the Royal Rumble on January 28, 2018, Lana participated in the first ever women's Royal Rumble match as the 13th entrant, but was eliminated by Michelle McCool. Lana would compete in the WWE Mixed Match Challenge, teaming with Rusev, where they defeated Elias and Bayley in the first round, marking Lana's first official win in WWE. On the May 22 episode of SmackDown Live, Lana defeated Billie Kay to qualify for the women's Money in the Bank ladder match marking her first singles win in the company. At the event, Lana failed to win the ladder match. Throughout late July, she was booked with Rusev and Aiden English against Andrade "Cien" Almas and Zelina Vega. In the process, this turned Lana face, for the first time since 2015. At SummerSlam, Lana and Rusev faced Vega and Almas which they lost, however they won the rematch on the following night on SmackDown Live.56 She competed at WrestleMania 35 in the annual Women's WrestleMania battle royal match, but did not win. Villainess (2019-present) On the September 30, 2019 edition of Raw, Lana turned heel by revealing herself as the illicit lover of Bobby Lashley, betraying Rusev in the process. After weeks of vignettes displaying their affair, Lana explained her actions on the October 28 edition of Raw; accusing Rusev of only using her for sex and cheating on her, before joining Lashley in attacking Rusev. At the Crown Jewel event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on October 31, 2019, the villainous Lana briefly appeared alongside Lashley during his entrance, making history as one of three WWE female performers (along with Lacey Evans and Natalya) to appear on-screen at an event in Saudi Arabia.